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Saturday 8 December 2012

November Music Purchases

 
Jack Savoretti - before the Storm I went to see Jack as I wanted to see the support (Karima Francis) and was blown away by Jack. This is his latest album listener friendly tunes perfect for Radio 2 is how I would describe this. Great stuff.



The Lumineers – Self Titled Discovered these guys supporting The Civil Wars and they were great live, full of confidence and belief. The album is not a disappointment full of sing along tunes that I guarantee by the time you read this you will have heard (E-on advert anyone?)



Cass McCombs - Humor Risk Been meaning to buy music by the next couple of artists for a while and I finally got round to it.

deus – Vantage Point Music magazine once said these guys were Belgium’s equivalent to Elbow so can’t wait to get round to having a listen

Fruit Bats – Mouthfuls this is beautiful Americana great harmonies, and tunes to die for. Cost me less then £2.



Ed Harcourt – Lustre I love Ed and managed to pick his last album cheaply prior to a new release. A real British talent that should be better know. 



The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops & Hats One of my favourite bands releasing re-mastered albums with extra discs of demo’s and rarities. A no brainer for me. It doesn’t disappoint. 2 never released tracks (one on each album) are worth the £10 per disc I paid.



Alex Cornish – Play Your Part EP took a punt on a gig and really enjoyed it, bought a limited edition EP and will pick up his albums soon.


This video isn't of track from the EP but you get the sound.

Saturday 3 November 2012

Music Purchases September - October


Dave Matthews Band – Away From The World As some of you might know I’m a huge fan of DMB so that fact he has released his second study album in 3 years makes me smile a lot. Not to every bodies taste, it doesn’t really follow the tried and tested formula of verse - chorus – verse, but this will be on heavy rotation for me over the next couple of weeks.



The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten Next instalment from the New Jersey foursome. Brian Fallon has a knack of writing hook laden songs and there is plenty to admire here. Nothing different from previous Gaslight Anthem releases but if it isn’t broke don’t fix it!



Sigur Ros – Valtari Latest from the Icelandic music makers, picked up cheaply in HMV. Expect most of these tunes to be used to soundtrack wildlife programmes over the next 12 months!





Matchbox Twenty – North Savaged by the critics I expect this album to be riddled with soft rock anthem and touching ballads about love lost, love found and love lost again. Perfect just how I like it!



Bear’s Den – EP caught these guys supporting The Smoke Fairies and was that impressed I bought their EP. They sound a bit like the Fleet Foxes which is no bad thing in my opinion.  



Mogwai – Come On Die Young & Happy Songs For Happy People catch up back purchases from the Scottish band that make an very big noise that seems so perfect and intimate.

Lambchop – Damaged picking up albums that I don’t have by an artist especially when they are £3 in HMV.

Wild Beasts – Limbo Panto Same as above this was Wild Beasts debut album and they are turning into a rather fine band, both on CD and live. 



Squeeze – Greatest Hits  A BBC4 documentary lead me to confess that I did not own any of Squeezes music and as I can sing word for word at least 12 of these songs though I best put that right. In truth this compilation has 20 tracks of which 7 I suspect never worried the charts, but the first 11 tracks are as near to pop perfection as you will get.
 

Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals  More scratching about in HMV brought the next few purchases all for £3 each. I like Yeasayer and couldn’t resist their debut album



White Denim – Workout Holiday White Denim play music hard to define other than saying it’s great and never fails to impress. This is their debut and adds to Fits and D which are also fantastic.



WU LYF – Go Tell Fire The Mountain pronounced Woo Life bought on the strength of the cover sticker and on first listen very interesting. Vocals rawer than Tom Waits with a saw throat driven along with an intense guitar sound. 





Various Artists – Best Of Kokua Festival I haven’t listened to Jack Johnson since seeing him in 2010 and being bored witless so buying a live album with Jack playing on every track didn’t seem like a wise choice even to me! In truth with collaborators as good as Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, g Love, Eddie Vedder and Willie Nelson this was never going to be a risk. Chilled, yes, laidback, yes, boring NO!  

  



Thursday 1 November 2012

Five For Life


Last night I went out for a few drinks with a mate in Newcastle my journey home using public transport takes about an hour so to avoid eye contact with the zombies and the walking dead, (I know it was Halloween but this is just the usual cross section of passengers heading towards Byker and Percy Main) I decided to ask Twitter a question.....

My question was If you could only listen to 5 artists for the rest of your life who would they be” By the time I had finishing typing my 5 the choices my timeline was beginning to light up, and 12 hours later I have had 40+ people naming over 150 different bands/artists and a request to list them!

A quick scan of the list shows it to be predominately white, male and guitar based which may be a reflection of the me and my Twitter followers but also there are some new artists to me (and therefore hopefully for you) and if they important enough to be in someones five I think they might be worth a listen.

So here we go in no particular order, (brackets denote multiple nominations)

Dave Matthews Band (2)
The Blue Nile (2)
Talk Talk (3)
Bruce Springsteen (5)
Danny &The Champions of The World/Grand Drive
Foo Fighters (4)
John Martyn (3)
Muse (3)
Kirsty McColl
Billy Bragg (2)
The Rolling Stones (4)
Sufjan Stevens
Counting Crows
Ryan Adams (2)
Primal Scream
Dangermouse
Pixies
Elgar (the only classical music choice)
Neil Young (3)
Teenage Fanclub
Wilco
Bob Dylan (2)
The Go Betweens
XTC
Jan Wobble
Big Youth
Joanna Newson (2)
Tori Amos
Ana Silvera
Roger Waters/Pink Floyd (5)
Elbow  (7)
Craig Armstrong
Regina Spektor
Nina Simone
Crowded House (2)
Underworld
Radiohead   (4)
Orbital
Josh Homme
Le Sac v Pip (2)
Damon Albarn/Blur (2)
Primus
Thelonious Monk
LCD Soundsystem
Battles
King Crimson
Led Zeppelin
Joni Mitchell
Amy Bezuarlea
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Andrew Bird
Leisure Society
Freddie Mercury/Queen
David Gray (2)
Eliza Carthy
U2
Hot Chip
Kate Rusby
Cardiacs
Joy Division
I Am Kloot (3)
The National  (4)
REM
Stevie Wonder
Kylie
The Smiths
Leonard Cohen
The Jam
David Bowie (3)
Frank Turner
Sigur Ros
Ben Folds
Richard Hawley
Dream Theater
Low
James
David Ford
Sparklehorse
Opeth   (2)
Pearl Jam (2)
Frank Zappa
Marillion
Depeche Mode  (5)
Nick Drake (2)
Prince
Super Furry Animals
Jamie T
Fuck Buttons
Rufus Wainwright
Johnny Cash  (2)
Beastie Boys (2)
The Doors
Marcus Foster
The Milk
The Shins
Soundgarden
Nitzer Ebb
The Beatles (3)
Band of Skulls
The Black Keys
Laura Marling
Bahamas
Doomtree
Faith No More
EL- P
Killing Joke
Felice Brothers
The Waterboys
Frightened Rabbits
Public Enemy
The Stone Roses
Jimi Hendrix
OMD
Metallica
New Order
Doves
The Cure
Pet Shop Boys
Artic Monkeys
Friendly Fires
Kayne West
Little Comets
Two Door Cinema Club
Al Green 
Beth Hart
Free
Kanye West
Jay Z
Nas
Fall Out Boy
Action Bronson 
Abba (3)
George Michael
Oasis
Bell & Sebastian
The Fall
Fiona Apple
Masters At Work
Dire Straits
Stiff Little Fingers 
Gomez
Supergrass
Gov't Mule
Frankie Miller
The Faces
Grandaddy/Jason Lytle
Massive Attack
Beth Orton
Tom McRae
Tricky 
Tim Minchin
Polka Dot Dot Dot
The Kinks 
Beach Boys
Biggie Smalls
2Pac
Fleetwood Mac
Beyonce